Late Night Calls and Nightmares
by Cindylou30
Summary: What the title suggests. :D Pepperony one-shot


**_A/N This…I really don't think this was worth uploading, but I haven't put anything up in a few days so I went ahead. I'm sorry to everyone who's been waiting on me for various reasons, I've just had a lot going on the last week or so. My next chapter of_ Pieces of a Whole _will be up soon.__ Anyway, I hope you enjoy._**

**_If anyone has any suggestions to better the ending, feel free to leave a review telling about it. I had absolutely no clue how to end it. XD I'll go back and edit it later.  
_**

**_The beginning is in _**_Italics **because it's part of Tony's dreams.**_

IMAA_ **doesn't belong to me.**_

_Pepper was screaming. He couldn't tell where the screams were originating from or why she was screaming, but he knew she was in pain and trouble and needed him. He couldn't let her down._

_He squirmed and flailed in his bonds, twisting from side to side on the cool, dew-covered grass as he attempted to pull the sack off of his head and see where the heck he was. As Pepper's screams grew in terror, so did his squirms as he tried helplessly to get free of the chains that wound from his chest to his ankles. He heard a deep chuckle from somewhere above him, and he was roughly lifted into the air and thrown, hitting wet earth on his back as his sackcloth fell off of his head. He was in a dirt pit, the night sky glittering above him from the mouth of the opening. As he struggled once more with his bindings, he heard something even more terrifying than Pepper's screams. _

_Absolute silence._

_"Pep!" Tony screamed, drawing his knees to his chest and kicking wildly, trying to loosen the chains binding his legs together. "Pepper!" Evil cackling filled the air as a shovel began scooping dirt on top of Tony, sealing him into his fate. He kept struggling, dirt caking his damp cheeks as he cried out for the redhead, although part of him already knew it was too late…_

"NOOO! Pepper!" Tony yelped as he fell out of bed, his arms and legs twisted in his heavy blankets as he hit the floor with a bodily thud. He shoved the covers off of himself, clambering to his feet and flying across the room to his desk in the darkness. He shoved papers off of his desk where they floated down to the floor in his haste, finally locating his phone beneath some unfinished schematics and dialing in a number. As he listened to the evenly spaced rings on the line, he glanced into the mirror above his desk, grimacing at his distraught expression in his reflection, turning away and roughly wiping under his eyes.

"'ello?" Pepper's tired voice answered on the end of the line, having obviously been awoken from her sleep. Suddenly Tony's reason for calling seemed very childish and stupid, and he floundered for something to say, feeling a bit guilty for waking her for his own selfish reasons. They were just nightmares, and he should be able to deal with them by himself.

"Hey, Pep," Tony whispered into the phone, leaning against his desk and tucking his left arm underneath his right, which was holding his phone to his ear.

"Tony? Is everything okay? Was it TIM, Team Iron Man? Is someone attacking?"

Tony shook his head, then remembered the redhead couldn't see him. "No, everything's fine. Go on back to sleep, I'm sorry for waking you."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment before Pepper spoke up. "Everything's not fine, something is obviously bothering you." She paused. "Was it the nightmares? You don't have to keep hiding them from us, Tony, it's okay that you have-"

"Really, I'm okay, Pepper," Tony interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose. Not one to give up easily, Pepper went on.

"Do you want to meet somewhere? We can just talk until morning."

The corners of his mouth twitched upwards. She was so hard-headed. But so was he, so really he couldn't complain.

"It-that would be great."

"I mean it, Tony, you can-wait, you said yes? Great! So, meet you at the park in five?"

"Okay," Tony answered. After saying good-bye and hanging up, he clipped his phone to his belt loop and grabbed a sweat jacket from his closet, pulling it over his bare chest. As he started out the door, he couldn't help smiling as he thought about how great his friends were. One day he was going to make them realize how much they meant to him.

A few minutes later, Tony met Pepper at a bench in the park, where they would talk and laugh at until long after the sun had risen and had warmed the cool, brisk air.


End file.
